Governor of the Bank of Israel Dr. Karnit Flug has appointed the director of the bank's research department, Prof. Nathan Sussman, as a member of the Monetary Committee. Prof. Sussman will replace Barry Topf, who resigns from the Bank of Israel at the end of the month after 30 years. The appointment will become effective on November 1. Prof. Sussman will continue to serve as director of the Research Department.
The Monetary Committee has six membersthe governor (who chairs the committee), the deputy governor, an additional bank employee nominated by the governor, and three external members, currently Prof. Reuben Gronau (whose term was recently extended by the government for an additional 4 years), Prof. Rafi Melnick, and Prof. Alex Cukierman.
Prof. Sussman, 53, holds a BA and MA in Economics from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and a PhD in Economics from University of California, Berkeley. He has served as lecturer in the Hebrew University Department of Economics since 1993 and as Associate Professor since 2004, and was Chairman of the Department in 2003. He has also served over the years as Assistant Professor and as Professor at the University of Western Ontario. Sussman’s fields of expertise are monetary policy, capital markets, and macroeconomic history.
Last September, the Bank of Israel Research Department published a comprehensive study of the mortgage market under various scenarios. The study warned of a crisis in the market in the case of a recession or a rise in interest rates in the future.
Flug said that Prof. Sussman would bring with him a wealth of experience to the Monetary Committee in both economic research and policy formulation. She thanked Barry Topf for his 30 years of work at the Bank of Israel, and his contribution to Israel’s economy during that time. She noted, “Barry played an important role in formulating the Bank of Israel’s monetary policy during the financial crisis which began in 2008, with an emphasis on the Bank’s foreign exchange policy during that challenging time. Likewise, Barry made a marked contribution to the work of the Bank of Israel’s Monetary Committee, of which he was a member since its establishment in 2011.”
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on October 21, 2013
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